Memorial Day; it's a typical assignment. In fact it’s an annual assignment almost every newspaper photographer has had to shoot at one point or another. My assignment was to come up with a few photos from Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery that would be iconic for a broader story on the entire cemetery that would run on Memorial day. Carrying everything from a 16mm to 300/2.8 I must have walked the entire cemetery’s 70+ acres at least a dozen times, wandering in every direction for hours, shooting with wide angle lenses, closeups, telephoto, shallow and deep depth of field and yes even the low-low angle photos. In fact on two occasions while shooting several photos on my knees I was caught off guard when the cemetery's auto sprinkler system started. On my 2nd day out on the cemetery I was fortunate to stumble upon a Marine burial guard. And of course the gear I needed was back in my car. I had less than 10 minutes to get back to my car, drive my car over to where the burial guard was and to quickly setup a couple of portable strobes to photograph Cpl. Kevin Silva playing taps.Nelvin C. Cepeda
Photos used by permission of The San Diego Union-Tribune
Very compelling Nel. I think you captured the solitude of Ft. Rosecrans. The cemetery with the Lone Marine playing taps while an old tree stands guard over our brave fallen heroes is moving.
ReplyDeleteKnowing the background of how you came across the shot helps us be in your footsteps and allows us to be closer to where you were when you took these photos.